


Show the World the Thunder

by bottombeeb



Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: Dad!Patrick, M/M, Old Friends, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 11:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bottombeeb/pseuds/bottombeeb
Summary: Pete decides to take Bowie on a walk through the park and runs into someone he hasn't seen in years. Only, his old friend isn't there by himself.





	Show the World the Thunder

**Author's Note:**

> Title from She’s My Winona !

Pete loves the park. He always has. It’s a safe place for him to come and relax and smell springtime in the air. He’s spent his whole life enduring Chicago winters, but that doesn’t make them any warmer. When the air starts to change from cold to warm, his spirits get renewed along with all of the other living things that exist in the park near his apartment.

Bowie really likes the park too. He keeps stopping to sniff at the flowers, chasing butterflies and bees, picking up sticks he finds, and of course running up to greet every child and other dog they pass by. Bowie is a great companion, and another reason Pete loves spring. It’s warm enough to take him out, but not too hot that his warm husky coat poses a threat to his health. 

They reach the edge of the child-filled playground, and Pete decides it’s a good time to take a breather. So they head over to a bench and he pulls out a water dish for Bowie, putting it on the ground and filling it with water before finishing off the bottle for himself. Bowie makes a mess, as he always does when he drinks, but he looks happy so Pete’s happy.

The sounds of children laughing and the creak of the swings makes Pete smile. He watches the kids run back and forth, this way and that, and not for the first time Pete has a pang of wistfulness. He’s turning 35 in a few months, and his friends are all starting to get serious in their relationships, some of them even talking about kids. Joe just told him last month that Marie is pregnant, and he was excited for his friend, mentally telling himself that it’ll happen for him too. He just has to be patient.

A baby screams through the happy sounds of the park and Pete winces. He’s not looking forward to the baby stages. The staying up all hours of the night. The spit up and the diaper changes. The uncontrollable screaming. He instinctively turns to look towards the source of the noise, but his eyes land on a guy standing not too far away, watching the park with a fond smile. The guy is attractive, but Pete would guess that he’s probably a dad. He’s a little chubby, with a dad hat situated on his head, and glasses on the bridge of his nose. Some child yells towards another one, and when the man turns his head in that direction, Pete feels his heart stop. Because he knows that face.

“Patrick?” he calls, already on his feet and pulling Bowie with him.

The guy turns to the sound of Pete’s voice, and if there was any doubt in Pete’s mind of who he was looking at, it’s gone the minute they make eye contact. Pete remembers those blue eyes. 

“Pete?” he echoes back, face breaking out into a surprised but happy smile.

“Damn, it really is you,” Pete says, seeming a bit incredulous even as his smile outshines the other guy’s, all brightness and teeth as it splits his face.

Pete tries to reach out for a handshake, but his old friend doesn’t seem to notice the motion, immediately pulling him in for a hug. Pete doesn’t remember the guy being a hugger, but he doesn’t mind, just hugs him back.

“It’s been so long! What has it been? Almost 10 years?” Patrick asks when he pulls back, and Pete does the mental math to confirm.

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Pete says with a nod before he shakes his head with a laugh, “dude you’re gonna make me feel old!”

Patrick’s 5 years younger than him, but he always used to make Pete feel like a kid. Patrick just laughs, but then his attention moves down to the very excited and very curious good boy by Pete’s side.

“And who is this?” Patrick asks, immediately crouching down to his knees to get to Bowie’s level, making Pete smile.

“Patrick, Bowie. Bowie, Patrick.”

“Hey Bowie!” Patrick says, giving the excited dog a scratch behind his ears that has his tail wagging uncontrollably.

Pete smiles as he watches them interact. Patrick has changed a lot since they last jammed together in some shitty Chicago punk band. Almost ten years does that to you, he guesses. Where Patrick used to be all anger and irritation, now he seems to be full of happiness. There’s a lightness about him that Pete never saw in all the years they knew each other. He first met him as a moody, pissy, but awkward 17 year old, and the last Pete heard from him, he was a lazy and somewhat bitter hot head of a 20 year old. Pete had loved all versions of the guy, and above all, Patrick had been a good friend.

“So how are you? How have the last ten years of life treated you?” Patrick asks once he stands back up, with a friendly smile and genuinely interested eyes.

“Can’t complain. Lots of ups and downs but it’s been good,” Pete explains honestly, with a small shrug of his shoulders.

“That’s good,” Patrick responds, seeming so happy to hear Pete say that.

Pete remembers how fucked up he was back then. He still feels fucked up. Feels like a lost kid at times. But he’s a lot better now. Not perfect, but happier.

He opens his mouth to ask how Patrick has been, what he’s been doing, but is promptly interrupted before he can get a word in.

“Daaaaadddd! Penny stole my shoe!!”

Patrick’s attention immediately turns to the young boy who runs up to him, missing one of his shoes and running awkwardly. The kid can’t be more than 7 or 8, standing there pouting with his chubby cheeks at Patrick, gaining the adult’s full attention. When Pete first caught sight of his old friend, he thought he was just some dad at the park, but the possibility of the guy being a father had completely left his mind. Until now.

There’s a girl who follows him only moments later, shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and a face full of freckles. She’s holding a shoe, so Pete guesses this must be Penny. 

“Only cause- only ‘cause he frew it at me!” she explains with a stomp of her foot, and Patrick looks at the girl before his eyes go back to the boy tugging at his shirt.

“Declan...” he starts slowly, and the kid’s face immediately looks guilty, “did you throw your shoe at your sister?”

The kid’s face says it all. It goes from guilty and ashamed to defensive and frustrated.

“Well she was being a butt-face!” he explains, and Pete has to keep himself from laughing.

“I was  _ not _ being a butt-face!! Daaad!!!”

Patrick sighs but he’s smiling, a look that Pete remembers well. Except now there’s something very fond and adoring in his features, whereas when it was pointed at Pete it was always tinged with irritation and annoyance. 

“Penny, give your brother back his shoe. And Dec, keep your shoes on please,” Patrick explains in a calm dad-voice that Pete finds himself feeling quite impressed with.

Penny gives Declan the shoe back, but the boy seems to not want to listen to his father’s instructions. He stares at his shoe with a frown, like it’s his biggest enemy right now.

“If you don’t, Bowie here might try to eat your toes,” Patrick says, all matter of fact as he pats Bowie on the head, “Won’t you, Bowie?”

With the attention and affection, Bowie seems very excited. He smiles with his tongue hanging out, tail wagging fiercely. Penny laughs loudly as Declan screeches and rushes to get his shoe on as fast as possible. Pete can’t help the chuckle that tumbles out of him at the sight.

He never imagined Patrick would be a Dad. Not that he didn’t expect the guy to be a father one day, but not to be a Dad. With the capital letter and everything. He seems like a really good dad, one who can make his kids laugh. Plus, having two around the same age seems like a handful, and Patrick’s bright smile tells Pete that it seems to be a blessing rather than a curse. 

Unexpectedly, another little boy wanders up too. He seems to be the same age as the other two but he’s a lot more timid, not loud and cackling like the other two. Pete wonders if this is just a random kid who came to check out the noise, but the way he immediately reaches for Patrick’s hand and gives it a tug, tells Pete that that’s not the case.

“Dad, can I pet the doggy?” the kid asks, eyes staying on Bowie as he speaks to Patrick.

“Don’t ask  _ me _ ,” Patrick responds, giving the somewhat quiet kid a little push towards Pete.

“Can I pet your doggy?” the boy mimics, seeming a bit more nervous than he was a moment ago, speaking to Patrick.

“Of course you can! He’s very friendly,” Pete responds, loving the way the kid’s eyes light up.

The boy reaches out to pet Bowie, and the husky turns and covers the kid’s hand in slobber, earning him a laugh and more pets. The louder kids end up running off, back towards the playground, leaving their brother to pet the happy white dog.

“Are all of the kids at the park yours?” Pete asks, friendly amusement in his voice as he smiles at Patrick.

Patrick laughs back, and shakes his head no even though they both know Pete was just teasing.

“No just these three. Penny, Declan, and this is Bronx,” Patrick explains, eyes looking a bit tired when he explains, “they were triplets.”

“Fu-woah dude,” Pete says, just barely catching the curse word before it leaves his lips.

Patrick gives a knowing smirk, like he knows exactly how close Pete was to cursing in front of the park full of kids. Pete can’t imagine having triplets. That sounds like a nightmare. Sure it means they have siblings to grow and play with, but having three kids all at the same age seems like it would be even more than triple the stress of just one. Pete wonders if it was planned, or if Patrick and his wife got surprised with the group.

“Yeah,” Patrick responds with a bit of a laugh, “didn’t expect to be a single dad of three at age 22.”

There’s a bit of heaviness to his words, and for some reason Pete has a feeling like Patrick doesn’t go around announcing that to everyone who meets his kids. But Pete’s not exactly a stranger, even if he tends to feel like one. Maybe it’s something about the years they spent joined at the hip that makes Patrick feel comfortable saying that to him. Or maybe Pete’s just wrong and it really is how Patrick talks to people now. Or maybe it just slipped out. Or maybe he’s overanalyzing stuff as always.

“But I wouldn’t change anything,” Patrick says with a smile that holds so much happiness it’s almost blinding, “the three of them are the best part of my life.”

Patrick reaches for his son, possibly going to ruffle the young boys hair, but the kid pulls out of his reach to give Bowie a hug. It’s absolutely precious, but it leaves Patrick hanging.

“Even if they do love dogs more than they love me,” Patrick says and the two of them laugh.

It’s strange, how happy Patrick is. Pete feels like if he had gotten a girl pregnant when he was only 22, been surprised with triplets, and then had the girl gone from his life for whatever reason, he would be a mess. He would be stressed and hopeless and lost, and he doesn’t know if he could have done it. But here Patrick is, with a bright smile and happiness in his eyes whenever he looks at his kids. It’s kind of crazy to think about. Especially with how aimless Patrick was as a teenager, his complete lack of drive or ambition. The only things he cared about were playing drums, one-upping someone on his music taste, and sleeping. Now, it seems like his world is a lot bigger than it used to be.

“You seem really happy,” Pete says simply, and Patrick’s smile softens at that.

“I really am.”

Pete’s so happy for his friend, even though that wistful longing is pulling at his heartstrings again. He doesn’t know if it’s because of the young child laughing while Bowie licks his face, or if it’s because of the way Patrick’s hands brush against his as they trade numbers, with a promise to catch up more. All he knows is that he’s happy to have Patrick back in his life again, even if he is a package deal now.


End file.
